FACTORS INFLUENCING TEACHING AND LEARNING IN COLLEGE OF NURSING AND MIDWIFERY SCIENCES

FACTORS INFLUENCING TEACHING AND LEARNING IN COLLEGE OF NURSING AND MIDWIFERY SCIENCES

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1.        Background of the study

Teaching and learning is as old as human beings on earth. It is carried out not only by human beings but also by animals to teach their young ones to adjust successfully within their environments (Aggarwal, 2006). If the teaching and learning is effective, the learner will be able to make the best use of the things around him/her in the world.

In the past few years, Nursing education, as many other fields of study is undergoing fundamental changes in order to meet the needs of rapidly changing society. (Slevin and Lovery, 1991;Quinn, 1995). These changes entail the adoption of new roles for all those who are actively involved in nursing education: teachers, tutors, practitioners who act as mentors or preceptors for students in clinical practices. The significance influence on these changes has been the application of different teaching theories in nursing. In particular, Carl Rogers’ humanistic theory (1969) initiated a new approach to teaching and learning, widely used by many teachers and has been adopted as a philosophy by many academic institutions worldwide. Roger (1983) believed in the innate potentials for growth and development of each single individual. Bradshaw, (1989) supported the notion that the teachers’ role should be concerned with the facilitation of the learning experience.

A major challenge faces higher educational institutions on how to achieve quality outcomes for students in an increasingly globalised and competitive environment. Education is a reciprocal process during which the learners acquire knowledge, ability and self-awareness in gaining diversity of thoughts. Nursing education is designed to educate and train the student nurse to become competent and qualified professional nurses (Melish, Brink and Paton, 2009). In order to provide skilled nursing and midwifery care, professional nurses and midwives must be educated and trained by qualified teachers to master certain skills and be knowledgeable about the science of nursing. They need appropriate knowledge and skills to enable them to deliver safe and competent care to their patients (Leufer, 2007).

Professional nurses enter the program with different expectation of what is to be learnt, different intellectual skills, types and levels of motivation and different interests. Furthermore, professional nurses and midwives also come from different cultures and backgrounds. Consequently, their educators/teachers who are responsible for educating and training them have a challenging task. So, this work “factors influencing teaching and learning in College of Nursing and Midwifery Sciences, Sokoto” is embarked on, to; highlight those general and remote factors that play major role in determining how teaching and learning takes place in College of Nursing and Midwifery sciences, Sokoto.